Force carbonation issues

Hi all! I’m new to brewing and seem to be having trouble with carbonating my Sanke kegs. I’ve got 3bbl system so I’m running more beer than a home brewer but still brewing on a small scale. I currently have 8 5gal Sankes of American Pale Ale force carbonating with 23 psi at 55 degrees. I took the kegs off carbonation at 5 days and moved one of them to my kegorator that’s running between 38-40 degrees. I’ve got my serving psi set at 15. My problem is the kegs have very low carbonation. Everything I’ve read seems to indicate that the carbonation should be more prevalent at 23psi for 5 days. I’ve tested all my lines for leaks and haven’t found any. Is there something I’m missing or doing wrong as a newbie?! Thanks in advance for any insight!

That’ll get you around 2.75 volumes of co2, but I think you need more than 5 days.

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I forgot say: In your kegerator at 15psi, you’re going to have some very spritzy beer in about a week. You may want to consider dropping that down a few psi.

This chart always comes in handy:

5 days at such a warm temp would get you some foam on pour but not get you completely carbonated. You need more time on gas…I agree with @voltron though. I wouldn’t leave it at 15psi for more than a few days or it will be overcarbed.

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That’s seems to be what’s happening. It appears to have carbonation or at least foam with the first pour but after pour 2 and 3 it’s flat. Any idea how many day at 55 degree it might take? Thanks to both of you for the advice on turning the kegorator psi down!!

Your best bet is about 12psi with the beer cold, refrigerator temp cold, for two weeks. It will carbonate faster cold than warm. You can crank the pressure to get it done faster like 20 or 30 pounds and even go as far as to shake or bounce the keg but I have found that method a crap shoot.

For serving I use about 10 and adjust from there.

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BTW I deleted your double post. Don’t worry about it. If you ever need something like that done the moderators have a little shield next to their name and can get it done. Enjoy the forum.

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I’ve tried carbonating at warm temps and had the same problems foam but little carbonation in the beer. The beer needs to be cold to quick carb I believe. You can probably do it at 55 degrees but it will take longer I think

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Me do force carbonated. For 3 days at 20 psi. Than turn down to 8 psi. Let it stand for 10 to 13 days. Got a separate connector for my force carbonation. Most the time do leave it hooked up at 8 psi. Untill ready to move to the tap conection. Seems to work.

So your brewing 75 gallons at a time? Probably should invest in a Brite tank and carbonate at near freezing temps. I’d like to hear more about your system

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New Brewer at 3bbl? Boy you jumped all in!

To force carb at higher temps you need to have higher pressure. Co2 likes cold temps to carb quickly. Or try rolling the keg on the ground for a couple minutes with gas attached to help quick carb

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He’s doing 8 kegs at once. Maybe if he’s an old timey lumber jack on a log drive

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Actually I’d like to see a video of that

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Brew_cat, so yes, I’m brewing 3bbl at a time I have two 4in1 conical fermenters from BREWHA. I use Munipial water to chill my wort down initially then let my water chillers bring it the rest of the way down to yeast pitching temp. The chillers keep the temp with in 1 degree of set temp throughout fermentation and they are ale to chill down into the 30s if I wanted to but once I keg, the only space I’ve got to carbonate that amount of beer in runs 55 degrees. I think perhaps I didn’t allow enough time on the carbonation at that temp for the kegs to fully carbonate. Another mistake I think I made was not allowing the beer to fully chill down to 38 before test it for carbonation. I was testing it at 55/50 degrees and I think that was giving me a false sense of under carbonation.

Thank you, I appreciate it. P

I had the opportunity and I took it! It’s been quite an exciting adventure so far!

So why are you brewing so much beer. Those all in one brew systems are self limited you can’t brew another batch until fermentation is complete. Why did you choose that type of system? I’m curious is all